The first port of call for any sports person trying to raise their game would usually be a sports psychologist. But Tom, an American Football player and team captain was looking for a fresh approach. He knew what he needed was to find the motivation to keep on practicing, to be committed to his gym routine plus have more confidence in both himself and his game.

“I chose hypnotherapy because I like to consult a variety of sources to find solutions and I felt it could help me deal with any issues on a more conscious level.

“When I looked into it, I wasn’t necessarily set on it. I was actually quite sceptical that it would work. But I decided it was worth an experiment, even for just the placebo effect.

“What hypnotherapy did for me was to make me more mindful of my own thoughts and give me the opportunity to look at the causes of the separate issues which were holding me back from my training regime.

“Hypnotherapy is a different learning style from sports psychology and allowed me to achieve small goals and make constructive changes in easy stages rather than be completely focused on the end goal.

“While it might be a bit early to say that hypnotherapy has dramatically transformed my life, I know that it has worked at some level and given me the power to think and feel more positively about my sport.

“The sessions start with a consultation to determine what specifically is affecting you, then Georgios will provide techniques to address these problems. This is so important as he gives you the tools to work on yourself which helps you understand how your mind thinks about things you hadn’t normally considered. After this, the therapist will make you feel very relaxed and affirm your goals and techniques with the spoken word.

“My advice is to give hypnotherapy a go, it has made me much more mindful of the things I used to do without thinking about. This has aided me in my goals and motivation.”

Just after her mum passed away Bryony began suffering panic attacks. Although she had experienced an episode in the past, these new attacks began to occur more regularly and were more severe.Eventually they became an ‘everyday state of mind’ and Bryony realised she had no control over her life so needed to take action. Consulting her GP her only options were medication or counselling. Not wishing to take pills, Bryony attended counselling but came to conclusion talking while someone passively listened was not the answer, especially when she had friends she could share with.After some research Bryony decided hypnotherapy could offer a more dynamic solution.“I am a pragmatic person so I wanted something straight-forward which I would be actively involved in to get the feelings of panic under control.“When I first met Georgios he was very direct with me and it took me a while to be less guarded and more honest about how I felt when usually I would say I felt fine even though I wasn’t.“He is quite a unique character and told me outright that I was responsible for making myself feel so anxious. While this seemed quite harsh, he had read me well because I soon understood I also had the power to stop myself from feeling so bad.”It took three sessions to work through the issues and pick up some self-help techniques to enable Bryony to stop her anxious feelings from getting hold of her and disrupting her life. The effect on her life was transformative.“It is such a relief to be free of the fear. While I am not cured of panic attacks I am now able to manage them better. This is because I haven’t changed my nature, just the way I think about things.“The first test of my new state of mind was when I went flying off on holiday. Usually this can be an ordeal for me but I didn’t even register any of the typical fears. I was more able to focus on the good things such as the fact I was going on holiday, rather than the bad things which could happen, but in reality, were unlikely.“I even confronted a panic attack by deliberately bringing on the feeling. At that stage, because I knew what it would feel like and that it would pass, it really wasn’t that bad. I was so pleased that I had genuinely got my life back.“I would advise anyone who wants to take positive action and get on top of anxiety that hypnotherapy is for you.”

Sleep problems are notoriously difficult to resolve but Susan Boyle, who has suffered from chronic insomnia since she was 15, found hypnotherapy helped make her life and her relationship run more smoothly.Insomnia is an issue that is hard for those who haven’t suffered it to understand quite how detrimental to day-to-day living it can be. For Susan, battling a constant feeling of tiredness made it hard to get through the working day and even recreational outings were out of the question, particularly if driving was involved, for fear of accidents.Only being able to sleep in ten minute snatches at a time really affected her health. Lack of sleep impacts on the immune system and made her very susceptible to picking up bugs. Consecutive bouts of insomnia would trigger acute migraines and was likely to have been one of the contributing factors that led to Susan developing the viral condition ME, which causes extreme exhaustion.By the time Susan consulted hypnotherapist Georgios Theodorou she was in a sleep cycle of between 2 to 4 hours of rest followed by a period of wakefulness and only achieving a complete night’s sleep of 6 hours twice a year when lack of sleep finally caught up with her. Susan was taught how to use visualisation to picture herself feeling sleepy so she could bring on the feeling of being sleepy and then actually become sleepy. This was instead of her usual habit of talking to herself in an impatient voice that she couldn’t sleep, making it impossible to wind down and relax. Thankfully, it only took one session for Susan to change her thinking and enjoy a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, Susan soon needed more of Georgios’ help because her boyfriend in the meantime developed his own sleep problem – snoring! Still a very light sleeper, Susan worried this latest discovery might not only affect her relationship, it would set back her new night time regime. The answer lay in a series of exercises to help Susan change her attitude towards the snoring. She began by thinking about the issue and how she felt about it. Her first response was ‘angry’. By saying it aloud she was then able to use affirmation to reduce her initial reaction to ‘frustration’ and then to ‘feeling tired’ and finally down to ‘relaxed’. Slowly she was able to convince her mind that the noise was no longer invasive but it was soothing and even something she liked to hear.She said with relief: “I no longer feel as though I want to smother him in his sleep! I am delighted that by using these combined hypnotherapy techniques; I am beginning to get my life back.”Susan has come on leaps and bounds since undergoing just two sessions of hypnotherapy and believes it holds the answers for many others dealing with this debilitating problem.To find out more about dealing with insomnia and other sleep issues, contact Georgios Theodorou at Birmingham Hypnotherapy Clinic on 0121 241 8227.